Chapter Ten

Harry felt like the worst older brother in the world. How could he have not noticed that Severus was sick while they were walking through shops? Now that he looked back on it, it seemed so obvious! He hated being sick at the age of fifteen, but he could only imagine how bad it would be for a small child that wasn’t used to being taken care of.

They had gotten Severus upstairs, into bed and Remus was with him while Sirius flooed the Headmaster and asked if Madam Pomfrey would be allowed to come and check on him. His God-father had a hunch that it might be heat exhaustion Severus was suffering from, but him and Remus wanted to be absolutely certain before they began filling him up with potions.

“Poppy, how would I know what color his urine is?!” Sirius snapped. “I don’t stand over him while he’s in the bathroom!”

Harry had to keep from laughing and shaking his head made his way back upstairs to Severus’s room. The little boy just looked so miserable. Severus was laying close to the edge of the bed with a light fan on him. He was sweating profusely, and Remus said that they needed to find a way to keep him cool. The only drawback was that Severus wasn’t feeling hot, he was actually cold. So they had to wrap the little one up about twenty times to keep his teeth from chattering clean out of his head.

 Taking a seat on the bed, Harry gently pushed several locks of black hair away from his tiny face. He looked so pale and weak, how had Harry mistaken this for just a normal case of fatigue. It was clear that he needed to take better care to monitor the little boy’s body language. Tired and quiet could mean, “I’m sick, stop being a twit and bloody take care of me!”.

“Harry…” Severus croaked softly.

“Hey Sevvy,” Harry cooed. “How are you feeling?”

Severus cringed as he tried to think of an answer to this question. He knew that saying he felt okay would be a lie, an OBVIOUS lie, but saying that he didn’t feel good might make Harry frustrated that he wasn’t getting better fast enough. So he decided to do the next best thing, distract Harry with something else so he forgot his original question.

“Is Sirius mad I threw up on his floor?” he whispered. “He swore.”

“Oh Sev,” Harry smiled. “He wasn’t mad, that’s just how he reacts to unexpected things.”

Adjusting the blanket around Severus he positioned himself so he could lay next to his little brother and hold him properly. It was just a bit of a shocker to see that Severus actually shied away; maybe he thought that Harry was going to hurt him.

“Hey, it’s okay, Severus,” the teen assured. “I just want to hold you…I promise you aren’t in trouble.”

That seemed to help him relax, and he gently rubbed Severus’s back while he rested his head on his chest. He could feel his fever through his t-shirt and it just made Harry ache for him. It would be okay soon though, Madam Pomfrey would come and she would fix him up. Harry didn’t like feeling so helpless though, and when he heard Severus whimper softly it just broke his heart over and over again.

“Where’s Remus, Sev?” Harry whispered. “I thought he was up here with you?”

“He went to get me some soda water.”

Harry nodded and yawned himself. He could definitely use a nap too, but he didn’t want to fall asleep until he knew what was wrong with Severus. He was sure that with a master hand like Madam Pomfrey’s it wouldn’t take too long, but it was the fact that they had to wait with Severus in misery until then.

“Harry…” Severus whispered frantically. “I feel like I might be sick again.”

Harry quickly moved so Severus was laying slightly over the bed. He didn’t know what else to do other than to rub the little boy’s back and wait. He wished Remus or Sirius would hurry the Hell up; he was so scared of caring for Severus alone.

Finally Sirius came up the stairs with a glass of charged water for Severus, this was good…it meant that his godfather might be able to have some time to bond with Sevvy. He really wanted him to see how wonderful Severus could be. He knew that he was getting slowly better at accepting it, but it was still not going fast enough for Harry’s liking and he was scared Severus might start to feel unloved.

“Okay,” he said gently, setting the glass of water on the night stand. “Madam Pomfrey says he has a mild case of heat exhaustion. We have to keep him cool, hydrated, and rested…really tyke, you scared us all to death. How about a warning next time you feel sick?”

Severus blushed and moved his face so that it was a bit hidden under the blankets. He didn’t know that he could tell Sirius that he didn’t feel good…at the beginning he didn’t think Sirius liked him at all. Maybe Harry said something to him to make him nicer, that didn’t bother Severus though. It made him feel less of a burden.

“Yessir…” Severus whispered. “I’ll warn you.”

He watched Sirius’s face take on a bit of a saddened expression, most likely from being call “sir”. Harry could never see Sirius being a sir, not even if he was a Professor at Hogwarts. There was just this sort of air to Sirius Black that kept a person from feeling so on edge, and Sirius knew that himself.

“You don’t have to call me sir, kid,” Sirius offered. “You can just call me Sirius…or Padfoot. I’m not so old though that you need to call me sir.”

Severus looked up at Sirius and nodded, a weak smile forming on his pale lips. He could tell that he was trying to be nice, and it made Severus feel a little bit better. Not better to the point that he was going to get up and start playing again…but a kind of warm feeling in his chest that he didn’t feel when he first moved in with his new…family.

“Where’s Remus?” Harry asked, sitting up from the warm bed. “He never came back up.”

“Remus is…taking care of some personal business tonight,” Sirius worded carefully. “He sends his love and will be back as soon as he can.”

Severus felt the corner of his eyes burn, but he couldn’t tell if he wanted to cry or if it was just because he was sick. He decided to go on the notion that he was sick, crying just made him look like a baby…he didn’t even cry when he threw up, big boys never cried.

“Alright Severus,” Sirius continued, gently bringing the water towards him. “I know your stomach probably hurts, but Madam Pomfrey said that you need to drink some water.”

Severus wrinkled his nose a bit at the water. His stomach did hurt, and when that happened a person did not want to risk putting anything in it. Especially when a couple seconds ago he had felt on the verge of throwing up again. He wanted to say no, but he could see that there would be no room for refusal. So with a sigh he took the glass in a pair of shaky hands and sipped from it.

“Good boy,” Sirius praised. “Not too fast…that’s it…here, I’ll take it.”

Setting the glass down, Sirius helped Severus lay back down and turned to Harry. Everyone looked so out of it and tired, maybe an early night wouldn’t hurt. It was only about eight o-clock, but it never hurt to turn in early after a long day. Sirius had to clean up the kitchen anyway and he really didn’t want to worry about his god-son and new charge getting into mischief.

“Harry, I think you should go and get ready for bed.”

Harry yawned and nodded, that was actually a very good idea. As much as he loved Severus, he really did not want to fall asleep in his jeans. Standing he stretched to the point that he could hear his back crack. Merlin did that feel nice; he hadn’t been aware how stiff he was.

“I…I have to be alone?” Severus whispered. “Harry…you will come back right?”

“Of course.” He beamed.

How could anyone say no to that, even if Sirius told him NOT to go to Severus he would still have to sneak back later in the evening. He hoped that Sirius wouldn’t do such a thing, but his godfather had not been practicing the best behavior lately. Gently, Harry tucked Severus in with his stuffed wolf and followed Sirius out into the hall.

“I think you should take a shower before you spend the rest of your night with the kid,” Sirius said as they began making their way down the hall. “You look worse for wear, scamp. Who gave you permission to play dad here?”

“When you decided to play a spoiled teenager,” Harry smirked. “If you keep being nice to him I’ll take it easy.”

Sirius found himself almost shocked by the cheek he received from his godson, but rather than reprimand him like any normal parent would he just laughed. Just like James…one to always speak his mind. That was what Sirius loved about Harry; he was more like his father than he would ever know.

“I suppose I will have to make it up to you,” he teased. “I’ll think of something while you bathe…no go, you smell like a troll.”

Harry stuck his tongue out at his godfather as he made his way upstairs. He didn’t think he smelled like a troll, as a matter of fact he had showered that morning before leaving with Sevvy to go shopping. Though, he had been running around quite a bit afterwards. A troll, ha, Harry didn’t smell like a troll…oh God, was he really so tired that he was actually having an inner monologue on his, personal, scent?!

Taking his hands over his face and through his hair he walked into the bathroom off of his bedroom and began readying his bath. The steam had filled the room almost instantly and Harry didn’t waste a single second outside of the water. Oh God, this is heaven.

Closing his eyes Harry leaned against the porcelain wall, just allowing the droplets of water to beat down against his shoulders and back, his mind drifting far away from Grimmauld Place and everyone around him.

Severus didn’t like being left alone while he was sick…he truly felt worse when there was no one there to comfort him and make him feel better. He wished that Sirius wouldn’t have taken Harry with him, even with Dittany to comfort him it didn’t make his stomach hurt any less and the water wasn’t doing him much good anymore either.

He tried to close his eyes and focus on something other than how yucky he felt. Sleep he just needed to sleep, everything went away when he fell asleep. Father went away, discomfort went away, and his mummy came back. Sometimes Severus wondered why he even bothered to wake up…well he guessed that nightmares weren’t something he wanted to stay in, but the good dreams were the ones he welcomed to engulf him.

Nothing was working! No matter what he did, Severus just could not fall asleep feeling this way! He decided that he would take matters into his own hands. He would find Harry’s room and crawl into bed with him. He didn’t want to say that Harry had forgotten about him, but it was definitely starting to feel that way. Grabbing Dittany and the blanket Remus had given him to keep warm, Severus began making his way down the hall.

The only challenge that was facing him at the moment was remembering where his older brother’s room was. He knew that Remus had said something about it being across the hall or next door…which one was it? Severus really wished that he had been paying better attention. Well…when in doubt…guess.  He pulled his blanket up a bit more so he wouldn’t trip over it and opened the door that was to the left of his room. The door almost didn’t want to open and when it did he was a bit shocked to find someone inside of it, but that person wasn’t Harry.

“Oh…” he squeaked. “I…I’m sorry…”

“What are you doing out of bed, tyke?” Sirius asked, standing from his bed. “Did you get lost on your way to the bathroom or something?”

Severus wanted to nod, but he had been told by his father that lying was not something he did to those that did nice things for bad little boys. Even though Sirius had been mean to him to begin with, he wasn’t going to disrespect him with a lie.

“I…I’m lonely…” he whispered softly. “I was looking for Harry…my tummy hurts too bad for me to sleep.”

Sirius was almost taken back by what the little Snape had said, and was even more shocked by the fact that he was unable to turn the kid away. So maybe Harry was a little right in saying that Snape was a cute kid. Standing there in his blue pajamas, looking sick, scared, and sad, Sirius wasn’t sure he could bare to say no.

“Would you like to come in here with me?” he offered, patting a space on the bed. “I can keep you company and you can try and fall asleep.”

Severus wasn’t sure if this was a joke, but something told him that Sirius was actually being genuine with him. He walked in and gingerly crawled up onto the large bed. He fixed his blanket around him and shivered weakly, clutching Dittany to his chest.

“Severus,” Sirius said softly. “You don’t have to be so…tense. I promise you are okay here with me, you are safe.”

“I am?” he whispered. “But…but you don’t like me…”

Sirius frowned; he really should have taken better care to be nicer to Severus. Harry had been right, this kid didn’t know what Severus Snape was like…and Sirius almost hoped that he never did. His own childhood hadn’t been ideal, but Sirius had friends that made it better…really, who did Severus have? He had tried to hold onto Lily, but even she fell through his fingers.

“I do like you, Severus,” he said gently. “I was wrong to be so mean to you, and I am sorry. How about we start over tyke? Would you like that?”

“Yes please,” Severus said eagerly. “Does that mean you will start calling me Sevvy now?”

Sirius, seriously, did not like that nickname for Severus. It was cute for Harry to call him that, but for Sirius it just felt wrong and rather creepy. He had known the boy in school, and the idea of calling him Sevvy just made him feel a bit sick inside. Maybe they could come up with a different kind of nickname for Severus. He truly liked tyke for Severus, but he could understand him wanting something more personalized than that.

“I’ll think of one just for you, tyke,” he said with a slight yawn. “For now, I think you really need to lay down and go to sleep.”

Severus pouted and crawled into the warm sheets of the bed, he really didn’t want to go to sleep. It wasn’t that he wasn’t tired; it was just that he felt yucky.  Looking up at his new guardian he inched closer to him and rested his head against his side. He was sure Sirius wouldn’t mind…he had said that he wanted to start over after all.